Tiny Bubbles

Vesicles that cells spit out are implicated in cancer and AIDS

When Gustavo Rosania looked through his microscope last year, the University of Michigan cancer researcher was perplexed. Tumor cells that had been treated with chemotherapy agents had bubblelike objects at their edges. These microscopic vesicles were apparently being shed by the cells. What’s more, the bubbles contained some of the chemotherapy drugs.